Christmas Day festivities give way to dangerous wind chills in Wisconsin.
Wind-chill advisory in effect to Wednesday; frigid temps all week
“We’re going to go from celebrating to survival mode.”
Pastor James West Repairers of the Breach shelter
At Repairers of the Breach in Milwaukee’s central city, they prepared for a Christmas Day unlike most others.
There was turkey, of course. And gifts, too, such as socks, mittens, scarves and hats.
But there also was the realization that as a deep freeze settled over southeast Wisconsin Monday, people would have to get inside and out of the cold.
“We’re going to go from celebrating to survival mode,” said Pastor James West, who oversees the shelter at 1335 W. Vliet St.
So, after lunch was served, chairs were rearranged, sleeping bags were pulled from storage, and a warming station was set up for what looked to be a very cold night. When the doors opened at 8 p.m. people were already waiting to come in, said West.
By 8:15 p.m., 13 people had arrived and “they’re still coming in,” West said.
The National Weather Service posted a wind-chill advisory from 6 p.m. Monday through noon Wednesday as the coldest air of the season was due to hit southern Wisconsin.
Wind chills were anticipated to fall between 15 and 25 degrees below zero Monday night into Tuesday morning, with a repeat of the frigid weather Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The forecast calls for frigid temperatures to last throughout the week.
The cold weather appeared to cut into attendance at the 28th Christmas Family Feast put on by the Salvation Army at the Wisconsin Center.
Still, there was a lot of joy, fellowship and food to be had at one of Milwaukee’s signature celebra-
tions.
The chefs at the Family Feast didn’t just cook for the thousands of people who attended the downtown event — meals were also sent to area shelters, including Repairers of the Breach.
“We’re a drop-in refuge and resource center,” West said.
Normally, the center is only open during the day. But on frigid nights, the shelter opens, providing an overflow when other warming facilities fill up.
“Police will bring people here,” West said. “The guys under the bridge, that’s who we get.”
Willie Dotson began using the shelter four years ago. Now, he has an apartment. He credits the shelter for helping him turn his life around.
“I came back to pay my respects,” he said. “The resources here saved my life. I was sleeping under a tree in a park and four years ago the cold drove me into the shelter.”
When he was homeless, especially on frigid evenings, Dotson said he followed a trail around the city similar to the trails cut by westerners in a Louis L’Amour novel.
“You’d go from the Rescue Mission, to Repairers, to the library to the church to eat back to the Rescue Mission,” he said. And when the temperature plunges? “It’s life or death,” he said. “It really is.”